Chapter 253: The Aristocrats
Chapter 245 The Aristocrats
Austria’s colonization strategy, and not just started, as early as a few years ago the government of Vienna has been funding expeditions to explore the African continent.
Leaving aside the inland areas, at least the basic situation of the coastal areas are still counted, and now want to do it is not so black and blue.
Not only on the African continent, the Austrian government on many parts of the world have collected intelligence, this kind of information has their own sent people to collect, there are also from the hands of second-hand dealers to buy.
Exploration is also a business in this era, and many private expeditions sell the information they collect to the colonial government in exchange for high pay.
Selling once is selling, selling twice is naturally selling. As long as the price is right, then everything is negotiable. Risking one’s life to go on an expedition, naturally, one has to get enough reward.
To be on the safe side, Franz prepared three infantry divisions this time, just to take the coastal area, and not deep inland, these troops are enough.
Guinea is not a large area is okay, it will not take long to be eaten by Austria, while the Congo region is not necessarily, this era of the Congo also includes the later generation of the Congo gold + Congo cloth.
The area is not generally large, are several times the Austrian mainland, obviously can not rely on so few people to occupy.
As with all colonial powers, priority was given to the coastal areas, and the African interior was not yet ready for development.
First send this group of refugees to the past before, with the immigrants can establish port cities, and then slowly develop these lands.
How to colonize and rule these areas, take them first, Franz decided to give the bureaucrats maximum autonomy, how to rule with high returns.
In the evening, in a small tavern in Trieste, a group of drinkers were chatting freely, and occasionally someone whistled to a few flamboyant women at the counter, and was greeted with a blank stare.
Most of these people are on the sea to make a living, and their behavior is inevitably a bit indulgent, so everyone is not surprised.
The women who appear here, naturally, will not be any serious people, are all veterans of the pleasure grounds, social experience that is ****
In short, as long as the money gives enough, take back to spend the night can be. Mouth flowers can not scare them, bitch ruthless theater without justice, these people yesterday or their benefactor, on today became a passer-by.
Molestation stays in the mouth, which means they have no money in their pockets, otherwise they would have gone up and acted.
Anyway, the sea is accustomed to the life of the straight and narrow, do this line of women naturally do not mind, money is the master, directly on the ground is not unheard of.
……
Wine emboldens the hero, and with high spirits, all manner of words may escape one’s lips. The initial step you must undertake is to amass a considerable sum of money to afford the necessary services.
The owner of the tavern has seen a lot of knowledge, encountered this situation, but also just quietly watch, wait for the fight is over and then go up to claim compensation.
Usually double, as a local snake to subdue a few sailors or not a problem, of course, if you encountered a ruthless character, then you can only recognize their own bad luck.
A drunken middle-aged man blurted out, “Valen, so many troops are gathering here, is this a war?”
The equally dazed Valen directly replied back, “Nonsense, Tagore when have you ever seen our navy fight a war, who can they beat? No, it’s the army and navy fighting together?”
The two men’s voices had become somewhat unmistakable as they spoke, normally they wouldn’t have dared to be so indulgent, in case they ran into a couple of drinking navy soldiers, they might have to take a beating.
Despite the fact that the Austrian Navy was not taken seriously and did not have a good war record, it was not something they could despise.
Geographic location, national policy, decided the Austrian Navy inaction, has only been able to serve as a backdrop for the army, does not mean that the navy officers and men have no temper.
Soldiers always want the war effort, the Austrian Navy has not known how many years of rest, anyway, most of the Austrian wars have nothing to do with them, the naval officers and men can only lament the bad timing.
Until after Franz came to power, the army and navy carried out a large training, forced to retire a group of mixed officers, everyone knows that the Vienna government’s national policy has changed.
Under normal circumstances, the Vienna government would not operate on the navy. Without a war, it is very unusual to strengthen naval training and increase naval military expenditure.
The news of opening up overseas colonies also came out from the top, and many thought the opportunity had come, not realizing that the wait would be more than four years. Except that training was strengthened and warships were increased, then there was nothing more.
Under these circumstances, it was inevitable that the young people would become a bit sullen, and the slightest spark would ignite, with fights and brawls occurring from time to time.
Of course the fights were quick, but after the fights were over, it was tragic. If they are not caught by the court-martial, it is good, but if they are caught, they will not have a good life for a long time to come.
At this time, there were a few navy soldiers in the tavern, but they did not have the time to care about the words of a few drunks.
Joint naval and military maneuvers, and the need for the Navy to deploy half, but also with three infantry divisions together maneuvers?
As soon as this order came down, everyone was guessing who they would be fighting with this time. After thinking about it, everyone still couldn’t think of an opponent.
Britain and France, they simply can not win, even if the navy size doubled again is not a rival, directly can be ruled out, the government of Vienna is not likely to give such an idiotic order.
Attack the Ottoman Empire? Don’t even think about it everyone knows that the Army has already finished the job, Austria has gotten everything it wanted. The Sultan’s government had moved the capital to Ankara, so going after them again would have to take into account the reaction of Britain and France as well.
A young man whispered, “The authorities are in the dark, you don’t need to speculate, why don’t you listen to the answers of those drunks.”
The few people who were arguing stopped.
“Valen, you’re being silly here! At least you’re a sea-dweller, don’t you know that there are such creatures as natives in this world?
Our navy can’t compare to Britain and France, and it’s hard enough to take on Spain, but going out and bullying the natives, that’s no problem at all.
Just the troops assembled here right now could wipe out a few small countries overseas.” Tagore’s man scorned
Valen retorted defiantly, “Bullshit, Tagore you fool, don’t you know that the officials in Vienna have never given a damn about overseas? Are you going to change their attention?”
“Couldn’t they suddenly come to their senses? Our Austria, no, our New Holy Roman Empire, is one of the most powerful countries in Europe, so what’s wrong with grabbing a few colonies?
In this day and age, without a few colonies, one is embarrassed to leave the house, it’s not likely that the lords of Vienna will be stimulated and come to their senses all of a sudden.” Tagore argued
In a short time, the two drunks made a row, wanting to use force to solve the problem, but also dizzy, do not give them the opportunity to do it, the tavern appeared in the two men to frame them out.
……
A young man asked uncertainly, “What they said shouldn’t be possible, right?”
The first young man said, “That’s also more reliable than what we guessed, we haven’t heard that we’re in conflict with anyone now, we can’t just catch people beating them up for no reason, right?”
A calm gray-clothed man said excitedly, “It’s really going to open up a colony, doesn’t that mean our chance to get rich has arrived!”
In the eyes of many, colonies in this era meant wealth. To those who longed to be rich, this was undoubtedly an opportunity.
The young man at the head chided, “Shut up, Sorin! What nonsense, it’s clearly a chance to build a career, don’t open your mouth all day long about getting rich!”
Solin hurriedly replied, “Yes, Captain!”
Obviously this captain officer, just couldn’t look at this kind of people who opened their mouths and shut their mouths about getting rich. The aristocrat born was supposed to enter the Army to serve, but he didn’t expect that there would be an unforeseen event in the heavens, and he was bailed out and sent to the Navy’s Basic Officers’ School.
When he heard the news, he nearly collapsed. In this era, the Austrian Navy, there is no half a chance of merit, is almost like the uneducated and untalented people, go in to mix the place of life.
Good thing he was lucky enough to catch the Austrian state policy change. Now his idea is to get military honors as soon as possible and get a noble title.
After all, his family’s title is not hereditary, to his father’s generation only up the outbreak, he can still be said to be a nobleman’s son, the next generation there is no way to continue to call himself a nobleman.
Austrian titles were not easy to get, especially hereditary titles. After Franz succeeded to the throne, more than a hundred nobles were ordained before and after, most of them because of military service.
Then there were a few scientists, a dozen engineers, and a handful of government officials, and the rest were lifetime nobles, except for military service which saw the emergence of hereditary titles.
This wasn’t Franz messing around, it was a rule that was already in place. Lifelong system of nobles the emperor can be randomly sealed, while the actual seal of the military nobles, you must have to take the merits of the work to be able to do.
This rule was formulated by Franz two years ago, agreed to by the Austrian Noble Council, but also widely recognized by the military.
Differentiation is the only way to reflect their status ah, most of the German region’s nobles are military nobles, in the maintenance of their own status they are also very attentive.
As the price of the deal, the right of the great nobles in the country to divide the nobility from now on was withdrawn by Franz. Including several states as well, the king’s enthronement of nobles had to be submitted to the emperor for approval before they could obtain legal status.
The number of nobles was controlled by Franz, the eldest son of the nobles could inherit the title regardless, and the second son had to struggle again, otherwise the next generation would be the commoner’s children.
This is still hereditary nobility, life nobility, not to mention the continuation of the European continent’s practice, the next generation if you do not work hard, there will be no title to inherit.
But anyone who is ambitious, will not be willing to be lonely, the opportunity to come on naturally.
Franz’s law of nobility, although not implemented, but there is no secrecy, the content has long been spread.
After all, colonies are different from the mainland, if the central government directly rule, the cost is a big problem. If the colonies were divided up and ruled by meritorious officials, the central government would only control a few core areas, while the rest would be governed by the bannermen, and the administrative pressure would be much smaller.
The main reason it is not implemented now is that it is not certain that the colonization will be successful. If the colonization was successful and it was profitable to rule the place, there would naturally be nobles willing to go.
Anyway, if the colonization is not profitable, even if the land is given away, the nobles will still disdain it.
This new Holy Roman Empire’s special situation is determined by the fact that there are already three kings of states in the country, Franz does not mind adding a few more overseas.
At least the problem of corruption can be effectively curbed, Franz is not prepared to draw heavy taxes in the colonies, a symbolic collection of a little on the line, mainly for the Austrian industry and commerce to increase the market, these people can not swallow their own money, right?
The collapse of the colonial system of the British Empire in later years, in addition to the blow of the United States and the Soviet Union, the cost of the bureaucracy is too high is also an important factor.
In order to reduce the cost of ruling, they also came up with self-governing territories. This measure succeeded and failed.
The success was that it did reduce the administrative costs and increased the market for domestic industry and commerce; but the rights that were released could not be withdrawn, laying a hidden danger for the collapse of the colonial empire.
It is not surprising that this happened when the power of self-government was controlled by local capitalists, and capital knows no borders.
Avoiding this kind of thing, Franz is not sure if it can be done, but increasing the recognition and delaying the collapse can still be done.
Relying on the government bunch of bureaucrats to step in and organize immigration, just look at the Germans, the population was headed for America, Franz didn’t think the Austrian bureaucrats could do much better.
It would be better to let the nobles organize it themselves, and if they succeeded he would share in the results, and if they failed there would be no harm. Seal a few more and there would always be successes.
It is not that Franz looks down on African countries, just support a bannerman, in the African continent is one of the strongest countries, the prerequisite is not to blacken.
The future of the African continent on the nail is buried, cultural traditions, economic interests is a natural bond, the colonies and domestic united together.
The population’s centripetal force towards the mother country has not dissipated, and wants to be independent, unless they don’t want their own legal system anymore.
As long as the ruling class isn’t crazy, they won’t do such a stupid thing as destroying their own foundations.
By becoming a highly autonomous state under the Holy Roman Empire, they had a half-dozen benefits, and the imperial government was still a source of strength to maintain their position.
Conversely, the kings of these states would be the pillars of the consolidation of the emperor’s power. Even if the monarch’s power declined in the future, in order to keep this huge empire from splitting up, no one would dare to fight against the doctrine of abolishing the emperor.
(End of chapter)